An Inductive Leap too far...

     In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, the character Katniss goes through the process capturing her enemies, the Careers, by surprise. The Careers trapped Katniss in a tree, forcing her to live up there until she could escape without them realizing. When the Careers were asleep, Rue advises Katniss to cut down a hornet's nest hanging directly above where the Careers were laying. "The nest, Katniss, the nest!" (Collins, 149) Katniss proceeds to do so without acknowledging that by doing so, she is putting herself in danger. Not realizing that there was a chance of her being stung presented illogical thinking. Although there was logical thinking behind cutting down the hornet's nest (distracting the Careers, and therefore giving Katniss time to escape), Katniss was thinking illogically. Katniss suffered three stings as the result of cutting the hornet's nest down from the tree. This occurrence had an impact on the plot of the story. Katniss very well could have starved to death or been killed if she hadn't escaped from the tree. This would have changed the entire story line because Katniss would have been eliminated from the Hunger Games, appose to winning the games. It also would have effected Peeta and Katniss's relationship. Katniss had thought that Peeta had become allies with her enemy the Careers, which created tension between the two of them. At any point, if Katniss wouldn't have escaped, one of them could have killed the other. Although Katniss's inductive leap too far may seem to be an unimportant event in the novel, it is one of the many experiences that allowed Katniss to win the Hunger Games!